architect of cuts David Cameron likes the King of Shaves Azor razor!

It’s not always easy to think of something entertaining to write about on your blog but whenever the scourge of writer’s block strikes I simply check out what King of Shaves founder Will King is up to on Twitter and I am immediately inspired to commit fingertips to keypad.

Today he was hobnobbing with our glorious leaders at the launch of Start Up Britain, a private-sector led initiative aimed at helping people set up businesses – one backed by Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne. He was also busy garnering some rather polarising razor endorsements. Ignoring the inherent (and well-known) dangers of dragging politics into marketing, Will excitedly tweeted:

“I have it on “impeccable authority” that British Prime Minister David Cameron a fan of our King of Shaves Azor 5. Yayyy! Eat that, Gillette!”

As smug as this Tweet sounds ( it’s very much from the “your mum stinks and never washes her curtain nets!” school of knocking) it’s an endoresment that’s also very much a mixed blessing in my book, in the same way that having a clean-cut Tiger woods endorse your razor only to find out he’s a serial wick-dipper might be.

After all, let’s not forget that David Cameron leads a coalition government because he was unable to seal the deal with the majority of the British electorate and has an approval rating in Scotland of -39%. Nor that he is presiding over the most hated public sector cuts for a generation. Not content by alienating half his customers, though, Will clearly thought he’d go for the rest of them by roping in even less likeable George Osborne (earlier this month 45% of people said they were dissatisfied with his performance), tweeting:

“Also gave George Osbourne a King of Shaves Azor & had a quick chat as he left #startupbritain. Least he won’t worry about cuts with it ;)”

It’s a cute joke, I know, but (if you’ll excuse the pun) this kind of comment is, at best, a double edged sword. The prime minister and chancellor are, after all, accused on a daily basis of “cutting too fast and too deep” of “making uneccessary cuts” and generally wielding the axe indiscriminately. In fact, it’s a government defined by cuts.

Given this obvious fact it you do have to ask yourself whether you’d want your razor company to be associated with the perpetrators. If nothing else, it does rather leave you exposed to some unwanted ribbing. As I myself pointed out on Twitter when I heard the news: “David Cameron is fan of King of Shaves Azor 5 razor apparently. Well, he is known for cutting too fast and too deep…” And trust me, mine wasn’t the only quip in this vein.

Still, it could have been much, much worse. Imagine the fallout if Nick Clegg had endorsed it.

2 thoughts on “architect of cuts David Cameron likes the King of Shaves Azor razor!”

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